On the industrial measurements and numerical predictions of orientation changes undergone by reinforcement cords in tire manufacturing process

Rubber tires consist mainly of an assembly of several layers, some of which are reinforced with fabric cords or wires. During shaping these reinforcement cords do deform and their respective orientation locally changes. A phenomenological fluid model has recently been developed for predicting the orientation changes undergone by the reinforcement cords. This constitutive model is based on the superposition principle: it consists of adding an orthotropic stress contribution for the reinforcement cords to the isotropic stress contribution for the rubber matrix. In the present paper, we intend to validate the approach vs. actual industrial experiments. For this purpose, a dedicated mould and a rubber assembly are designed in such a way to enable careful X-ray measurements. Numerical predictions of the orientation changes undergone by the reinforcement cords are compared with measured data in order to assess the applicability of the model for rubber tire manufacturing.